What Is Awareness? June 10 – 12, 2016 Ashwani Kumar, Associate Professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, joined us for the third year running to present a weekend workshop entitled “What Is Awareness?” A small group of seven were present for the event beginning on Friday evening. Ashwani immediately stated that his style for this gathering would not involve lecturing and concepts but, rather, would be an invitation to enter directly into significant questions without prior knowledge or conclusions. He gave time for group members to get in touch with a question of fundamental importance in our lives and to then share it with the group in a process of exploration without looking for an immediate answer. It is the process of investigation and what can be seen through it that is important, not an intellectual answer or conclusion.   After sharing our questions, Ashwani asked us to consider what is the state of mind out of which the question is arising. Are we seeking something we think or feel we don’t have? Can we stay with that feeling rather than doing something to change it or get away from it? Have we ever been in touch with the raw feeling without naming it or explaining it? Ashwani was very adept at keeping us focused on this type of inquiry and was continuously reminding us to go into the actual experience and sensations in the body and not to resort to the intellect for solutions to our existential issues.   The rest of the retreat was a further exploration into the type of inquiry introduced on the first evening. Integrated into the program were some body-centred meditations and relaxation exercises, including energetic dance and gibberish. An interesting writing exercise and a nature walk were also valuable aspects of the retreat. On Sunday afternoon a video was shown of Krishnamurti speaking with a group in California in March, 1970. In the discussion, entitled “What Does Awareness Mean?”, K delves into the issue of harmony in living. The intellect is given far too much importance in our lives, causing an imbalance and conflict within ourselves. K suggested that awareness can bring harmony between all the parts of the human being. In fact, awareness is harmony. There must be a pure looking with any effort or intrusion of the intellect. This means a looking without an image of what is seen.   The combination of inquiry and experiential meditations was a powerful approach to bringing us to an actual direct knowing of awareness in our lives. The effects no doubt varied for each individual, but the willingness of the participants to enter into the experiments must have brought benefits to all. We were grateful to have Dr. Kumar with us once again.   

  Inquiry Sunday June 5, 2016      The morning session was attended by five participants. We listened to an audio presentation of Adyashanti in conversation with a member of his organization and exploring the subject of “True Love”.  Adya was asked about his relationship with his partner Mukti in particular, and he explored how the two of them deal with conflicts and differences when they arise. He acknowledged that others’ relationships may not be based on such a mutual compatibility of viewpoints and intentions and may therefore be more challenging and difficult, but what he spoke of could certainly be applied to any relationship in one’s life. It seemed that he was really talking about being aware of ourselves in relationship and the learning that naturally takes place as a result.     In the afternoon, we chose three questions asked of Krishnamurti during his talks over the years and looked at video clips of his responses. The first question was “Is there a final question which will end all my other questions?” K’s inquiry into the issue led him to ask another question, “Is there a state which is not dependent on any circumstances?” He seemed to feel that if we deeply inquire into that question it will bring us to something essential. The second question chosen was about individuality and responsibility for our actions. K pointed out that in fact no individual exists as we are conditioned to believe it does. When this is seen clearly, a state of compassion and love arises which will take right action in each circumstance. The final question was a little unusual. “We can learn more from listening to others than from listening to K. Why do you not encourage people to get together and learn from each other by discussing?” We were interested to see how K would respond. His answer was clear and to the point. “Are you listening to K?” he asked, “Or are you listening to yourself?” Any form of learning, including group discussion, is valuable as long as there is not a dependence on an outside authority, whether it be K or anyone else. We must learn about ourselves by looking directly at ourselves.

The May Stillness Within meetup took a break from weekend routines to listen to a 2001 talk given by Eckhart Tolle in India. The topic explored in the video related to the impermanence of ‘forms’, including ideas and even thoughts or beliefs. Eckhart suggested that losing a loved one, or one’s health or a job can provide an opening for a deeper truth or awareness to shine through. In the discussion that followed, a number of gleanings were apparent: * stronger emotions like other forms, when observed in a curious way, are transitory and often fleeting. * like Krishnamurti’s message, a relaxing of mental activity and simple noticing, without judgement or analysis can provide glimpses of a truth that is boundless. * we examined whether there is a role for the mind in cultivating true knowing… There were differing examples shared where mind was either a valuable partner in true knowing and also when the absence of thought seemed pivotal to a deeper awareness. Thank you to the K Centre for hosting is this month.

Inquiry Sunday Sunday, May 22, 2016 In the morning session six people listened to an audio presentation of Adyashanti speaking about “True Love”. He started of my mentioning that it was unfortunate that in our society there are very few words to describe love, which has many different aspects. In Greek culture, love was divided into different categories. Adya focused on “agape” or selfless love as being “true love” and the wanting to fill a lack in oneself through another person or activity as being a lesser form of love which can never be whole. The love which comes from Being has the quality of wholeness. He also touched on the mystery of love and of the connection that can happen between people. In the afternoon, we watched three question and answer sessions with Krishnamurti. The participants were given the choice of questions from a fairly lengthy list and agreed on “Is there a question that will end all questions?’ K took a surprising direction by exploring whether experience is necessary at all in our spiritual search, and asserted at the end of the fifteen minute discourse that the original question had been answered. The next question seemed to flow from the previous on in a natural way. The choice was “What is the art of questioning?” The gist of the session and discussion was that a question can be held in consciousness without looking for a quick answer but allowing the question to reveal its various aspects. K has often said that the answer is in the question itself. A third question was looked into, “Can thought be aware of itself as it arises?” Throughout the afternoon, the group discussed the points raised by K as well as insights and perceptions from the participants themselves.

  Krishnamurti Study Group May 7, 2016     Rick Mickelson hosted the Krishnamurti Book Study group this week as I (David) was away. Here is his report. The text being studied was from The First and Last Freedom.   In attendance—Rick Mickelson, Bill Brown, Suzanne Stewart, Katherine K,Peggy Lane, Laurie Sthamann, & Harshad Parekh  We moved outside, as that was the preference of the majority, and sat under the shaded oak tree in the front yard, by the pool. We started reading Chapter 14. Harshad was great at explaining the essential meanings of the first few paragraphs on relationship. Actually, he made many points revealing the deeper meaning of K’s teaching. The group was lively and the level of participation was high. Peggy had come for an Eckhart DVD showing, but stayed anyway, and seemed to enjoy our discussions. We took a break at 2:30 pm and ended the meeting after a short meditation, at 3:30 pm. It was a good session.